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Artists at the crossroads

This week's Arts section focuses on three local artists who weave their vision for humanity into their art.

— image credit: Connie Mears/Page design

Imagine three dynamic artists converging at a crossroads. Sitting at a campfire, they begin to share stories of their respective journeys: world travels, emerging from the ashes, risking everything to follow the call of the creative spirit. Settle in from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday around a metaphorical fire as sculptor Brian Berman, painter Deborah Milton and photographer Linda Wolf present “Art: Seducer, Healer and Ecstatic Transformer” in the sanctuary at Grace Church.

During the evening of storytelling and provocative conversation, this rare constellation of artist-visionaries will touch on some common themes: life is the medium – choosing authentic, passionate lives regardless of the linear payoff; letting something larger than yourself work through you, using one’s creative aspect to express a new vision for humanity.

Three artists – Brian Berman, Deborah Milton and Linda Wolf – each working in a different medium and with different intentions, will converge for a free presentation, “Art: Seducer, Healer and Ecstatic Transformer,” at 7:30 p.m. July 21 at Grace Church, 8595 E. Day Rd.

“It was as if I came to a roadblock in life, with a big boulder in the way. Instead of climbing over it or trying to get around it, I ended up sculpting the boulder.”

Sculpting healed his grief and today, his minimalist sculptures are collected worldwide.

“Many people are longing for a doorway to open. They aren’t feeling guided, and yet there are portals that are available in each moment. Stepping through that portal one can explore, celebrate new experiences with a sense of wonder and a child-like innocence at the possibilities.”

After 20 years as a sculptor, Berman and his wife Lisa, will step through a portal to a new adventure: encouraging peace through conflict resolution work in Ojai, Calif.

Risking your whole life

Shaken by death-bed confessions of regrets by both her parents, Deborah Milton was committed to living a passionate and authentic life. But it wasn’t until she heard herself advising yet another one of her psychotherapy clients to follow his belly wisdom, that she realized she was not doing that herself.

“I knew I had to follow my gut, to do what was right for my soul and that if I did, a weight would lift off me,” she said.

Her gut told her to leave her practice to become a full-time artist.

“So many miss living because of fear. Our culture uses fear as a control mechanism, but fear is a great ally when we move toward it. It’s a barometer. When I feel fear, I know I am shifting, moving, leaping.”

Now, 20 years later, she finds herself at a crossroad as she embraces the Bainbridge community, just as Berman is leaving it.

Soul work

Longtime islander Linda Wolf is mostly known for her work with teen girls and Teen Talking Circles. But through the years, she has attended to her first love – photography.

Inspired by Rachel Bagby’s haunting chant, “Full Woman,” Wolf has assembled a remarkable collection of portraits from the “terabyte’s worth” she has taken between 1969 and 2011, of females from all over the world.

Deeply rooted in the conscious, creative life, Wolf combined her interests in feminism and global citizenry to create a slideshow to the soundtrack of “Full Woman,” to remind us “how we need to be honored for how we are, naturally. How valuable we are, how beautiful, how outstanding we are just as human beings.”

An upcoming Artist in Residence grant will allow her an expanse of time to explore more creative terrain.

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